The pre-Iroquoian Algonkian Indians of central and western New York

INDIAN NOTES
AND MONOGRAPHS

E51
.1392
vol.2
no. I
NMAT

A SERIES OF PUBLICA-
TIONS RELATING TO THE
AMERICAN ABORIGINES

VOL. II, No. 1

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

HEYE FOUNDATION

1919

Publications of the Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation

THE GEORGE G. HEYE EXPEDITION
CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOUTH AMER-
ICAN ARCHEOLOGY
Vol. 1
The Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador: A Pre-
liminary Report. By Marshall H. Saville.
1907. $25.00.

Vol. 2
The Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador: Final
Report. By Marshall H. Saville. 1910.
$25.00.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM

OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN,

HEYE FOUNDATION

Vol. 1

No. I : Lucayan Artifacts from the Bahamas.
By Theodoor de Booy. Reprinted from Amer.
AnthropoL, Vol. 15, 1913, No. i. 50c.

No. 2: Precolumbian Decoration of the Teeth
in Ecuador, with some Account of the Oc-
currence of the Custom in other parts of
North and South America. By Marshall H.
Saville. Reprinted from Amer, Anihropol.y
Vol. 15, 1913, No. 3. 50c.

No. 3: Certain Kitchen-middens in Jamaica.
By Theodoor de Booy. Reprinted from
Amer. AnthropoL, Vol. 15, 1913, No. 3. {Re-
printed^ igiQ,) 50C.

No. 4: Porto Rican Elbow-stones in the Heye
Museum, with discussion of similar objects
elsewhere. By J. Walter Fewkes. Reprinted
from Amer, AnthropoL, Vol. 15, 1913, No. 3.
50c.

INDIAN NOTES
AND MONOGRAPHS

A SERIES OF PUBLICA-
TIONS RELATING TO THE
AMERICAN ABORIGINES

VOL. II, No. 1

NEW YORK

MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

HEYE FOUNDATION

1919

This series of Indian Notes and
Monographs is devoted primarily to
the publication of the results of studies
by members of the staff of the Mu-
seum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, and is uniform with His-
panic Notes and Monographs, pub-
lished by the Hispanic Society of
America, with which organization this
Museum is in cordial cooperation.

THE PRE-IROOUOIAN
ALGONKIAN INDIANS

OF CENTRAL AND
WESTERN NEW YORK

BY

ALANSON B. SKINNER

CONTENTS

Introduction 7

How Algonkian Criteria have been Deter-
mined 8

Types of Sites and their Location 9

Types of Artifacts 14

Pottery 14

Pipes 23

Stonework 25

Native Copper 31

Bone and Antler 32

Mica 34

Shell 34

Notes 36

INDIAN NOTES

II

THE PRE-IROQUOIAN ALGONKIAN

INDIANS OF CENTRAL AND

WESTERN NEW YORK

By Alanson B. Skinner

INTRODUCTION

T has long been a matter of com-
mon knowledge that the Iro-
quoian tribes found in posses-
sion of the region roughly
outlined as central and western New York
were relatively recent comers in that area.
Remains of inhabitants of more remote
periods and of'different cultures have been
discovered, yet up to the present time the
origin of these peoples and the culture
groups into which their relics fall have
been in doubt. It is the purpose of this
brief article to show that one of these
cultures was Algonkian, and to point out
certain criteria by which sites of Algon-
kian origin may be identified.

INDIAN NOTES

II

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

That there is a genuine need for such
criteria is proved by two important art-
icles on the Iroquois by two of the fore-
most students of the area, Messrs Parker
and Houghton,^ both of whom voice a de-
sire for further knowledge in this direction.

As the writer is familiar with the arch-
eology of the Algonkian tribes east and
south of the territory under discussion
and has had the good fortune to explore
a number of Algonkian sites on the Sen-
eca river in Cayuga county, New York,
the heart of the historic Iroquois coun-
try, for the Museum of the American
Indian, Heye Foundation, he will at-
tempt to supply the desired data.

The following constant features of
known Algonkian culture may be desig-
nated as criteria for the determination
and classification of any given site as
Algonkian.

HOW ALGONKIAN CRITERIA HAVE BEEN
DETERMINED

There are certain definite areas known
to have been occupied by Algonkian

II

INDIAN NOTES

TYPES OF SITES

tribes at the time of the arrival of the
whites, and to have been retained by the
same people during the period of coloni-
zation. Archeological research has shown
that, by comparison of the remains, their
culture may be traced from known his-
toric sites, with traces of European con-
tact, to prehistoric sites in which these
traces are lacking and yet where the ab-
original artifacts are identical.

Two such pure Algonkian regions are
(i) coastal New York, including Long
Island, and adjacent New England, and
(2) the entire states of New Jersey and
Delaware. It is therefore safe to assume
that a selected series of remains from
typical sites in this region will afford
criteria for comparison with anomalous
material found in the Iroquois country.

TYPES OF SITES AND THEIR LOCATION

Unlike that of the prehistoric Iroquois,
the typical Algonkian village-site is found
on a gently sloping knoll facing the south,
with fresh water nearby; or it may occur
on a bluff along a stream; again, it may

AND MONOGRAPHS

10

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

be on a point at the junction of two
streams; nor were the occupants at all
averse to residing on the level flats in a
river valley, or at the head or foot of a
lake. I know of but one site, among
hundreds examined, that* is situated on a
hilltop, as are so many prehistoric Iro-
quois forts. This is at Castleton, on the
Hudson, a few miles south of Albany,
New York. This is an early historic
Mahican village with strong traces of
Mohawk influence.

Earthworks are known, and palisaded
forts were stormed by the English and
Dutch in Connecticut and on Long Is-
land; but they are so rare that they may
be considered as exceptional.

The great shellheaps so characteristic
of the tidewater Algonkian settlements
are of course a matter of environment.
In the interior their place is taken by oc-
casional deposits of Unio shells, and more
often by kitchen-middens composed of
blackened earth and camp refuse, similar,
except in contents, to those of the Iro-
quois, only, as they avoided hilltop sites.

II

INDIAN NOTES

REFUSE-HEAPS

11

side-hill refuse dumps do not occur.
Also, as a rule, the midden-refuse layers
are much thinner than those of the Iro-
quois, and bespeak a shorter occupancy
or fewer people, or both. The Algon-
kian country seems to have had few great
permanent centers, like the Iroquois
towns, though such do occur at Trenton,
on Cohansey creek, and at Minisink,
New Jersey; at Tottenville, Staten Is-
land; on Long Island; at Inwood on
Manhattan Island, and in some places
along the Hudson. The rest of their
territory seems to have been populated
by roving bands.

The ash-pit (on the coast its place is
usually taken by the shell-pit) and the
refuse-hole occur in abundance, and gen-
erally contain finer artifacts than the
middens. These pits average three feet
in depth and three to six feet in diameter.
Many show traces leading one to believe
that fires had been kindled in the bottom;
others contain skeletons, and were pre-
sumably originally fire-pits in which the
dead were later interred.

AND MONOGRAPHS

12

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

Most Algonkian sites are placed upon
sandy ground. This rule is almost un-
varying near the coast, where sand was
easily found. The Indians thus secured
better drainage and more workable land.

The rock-shelter was the common
camping place in the mountains. Here
an overhanging ledge or shallow cave,
generally facing south and near fresh
water, was the desideratum, and hun-
dreds were utilized. They are almost
unknown, at or least unreported, in the
Iroquois country.

Cemeteries, as such, are scarce near the
coast; elsewhere they are usually near
the villages, and generally on a sandy
knoll. The burials are, as a rule, only
three or four feet deep, and nearly always
contain flexed skeletons. Two regular
exceptions are found, as in the case of
bundle burials, where the bones were
gathered and deposited after the body
had been exposed until the flesh was gone,
and, in historic cemeteries, the bodies
are oiften at length on the back, generally
with traces of cofiins. No great ''bone-

II

INDIAN NOTES

MORTUARY OBJECTS

13

pits," or ossuaries, have ever been re-
ported, though double or triple burials
are occasionally noted, and the writer
once discovered half a dozen bodies bun-
dled together in a grave on northern
Staten Island. Dogs are quite generally
interred with some care in the cemeteries,
sometimes with human remains, in this
case as though they had been killed that
their spirits might accompany their mas-
ters.

In all the area under consideration, in
which scores of burial places have been
opened, probably not more than half a
dozen have yielded artifacts with the
dead. The best known of these are at
Minisink, New Jersey, and at Totten-
ville, Staten Island, the former being an
historic site and under strong Iroquois
influence. The objects, when found, are
usually at the head, shoulders, or hips.
There is no fixed orientation of the bur-
ials.

Quarries, where argillite, jasper, and
quartz were obtained, are known on the
Delaware river in New Jersey and east-

AND MONOGRAPHS

14

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

ern Pennsylvania, and in Westchester
county, New York.

TYPES OF ARTIFACTS

Pottery, — The archaic form of Algon-
kian pottery, and one which persisted
long after the coming of Iroquois influ-
ence, is the well-known pointed-bottom
variety, which needs no further descrip-
tion here. It is found along the coast
from Virginia to Maine, and its presence
on certain non-Iroquoian sites in central
New York, and even in Canada, is well
established. Christopher Wren^ shows
vessels of this type in his plates i, 2, 3,
and 24, and Willoughby^ figures a num-
ber from New England, especially from
Maine. A similar vessel, obtained at
Fort Erie, Ontario, is in the collection of
the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences.

Another typical Algonkian vessel — a
variant of the pointed-base type, but with
the bottom restored in conformity with
other vessels found on the same site —
was obtained by the Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation, from

II

INDIAN NOTES

POTTERY

FiG. I. — Large Algonkian jar from Owasco Lake Park,
Auburn, N. Y.

was found at a site in Auburn, at the foot
of Owasco lake; it is quite characteristic

AND MONOGRAPHS

15

the late Dr B. I. Buckland. This great
vessel (55 inches in rim circumference)

16

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

of certain Algonkian forms (fig. i), and
though the Iroquois often made large
vessels, the Algonkian tribes, poorer pot-

FiG. 2. — Algonkian potsherds from near Athens, Pa.

ters though they were, surpassed them
in this respect.

II

INDIAN NOTES

POTTERY

A third pure Algonkian type is shown
in fig. 2. The fragments of these recep-
tacles were found on an Algonkian camp-
site on the banks of the Susquehanna,
near Athens, Pennsylvania, and some-
what similar sherds and vessels came
from the Munsee cemetery at Montague,
New Jersey, and the Owasco Lake site
in Cayuga county. New York. Similar
sherds are found throughout New Jersey
and on Long Island.

The later Algonkian settlements lying
within range of Iroquois war-parties soon
felt their influence. Escaped prisoners
or free sojourners in the country of the
Five Nations learned something from
their conquerors, and accordingly we find
on later prehistoric and historic sites,
pottery of decided eastern Iroquois type.
Fig. 3 exhibits some sherds from Morris-
ania. Borough of the Bronx, New York
City, in the Museum's collection, the gift
of Messrs Bolton and Calver. They are
truly typical of the modified form. This
type does not appear in central New Jer-
sey, nor on eastern Long Island, local-

AND MONOGRAPHS

17

I. N. M. II, I.

18

NEW^YORKALGONKIANS

ities remote from Iroquois war-trails. It
was common on the Montague site, and

Fig. 3. — Sherds of sub-Iroquois vessels from Morrisania,
Bronx, New York City.

the writer strongly suspects that some of
the vessels from Pennsylvania, figured by

II

INDIAN NOTES

POTTERY ANDSTEATITE

Wren,^ were made by Munsee Delawares.^
No western Iroquois, Seneca, Erie, Neu-
tral, or Huron types occur, though Wil-
loughby^ figures some from New England,
which was overrun by Canadian savages,
including the Huron, during the time of
the French and Indian wars.

On the other hand, the writer has not
seen any of this modified Iroquoian pot-
tery from an Algonkian site in central
New York, nor is it to be expected. When
the Iroquois entered New York, they ex-
pelled their predecessors (we say prede-
cessors, for all known central New York
Algonkian sites are purely prehistoric),
who departed so hastily under this hostile
pressure that the culture of their aggres-
sors was not impressed on their own.

It may be added that the steatite dish,
oblong, shallow, and with small knobs or
handles at the ends, is an Algonkian arti-
fact, and occurs throughout their range.
Fragments were found at the Mud Lock
site in Cayuga, New York, by the writer.
This form is non-Iroquoian.

In decoration we find the Algonkians

AND MONOGRAPHS

20

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

partial to stamped designs, although at
Trenton, New Jersey, and on eastern
Long Island, their vessels bear bold, free-
hand, angular, incised ornaments. They
favored the chevron and herring-bone
patterns, and never (with a single Staten
Island exception, where raised conven-
tional human faces are found on a jar
from Mariner's Harbor) produced life
forms. On modified Iroquois or sub-
Iroquois vessels human faces were some-
times indicated by lines, dots, or circles,
on the angles of vessels in imitation of the
Mohawk-Onondaga. These latter ves-
sels were nearly always decorated with
incised angular patterns copied from the
Iroquois, but sometimes stamps of antler,
bone, or wood (one of the former was
found at Glen Cove, Long Island, by Mr
Harrington), were employed to give a
more conventional effect, and sometimes
natural stamps — the edges of clam- or
scallop-shells — -were utilized.

Designs produced by the cord-wrapped
stick are exceedingly common throughout
the pure Algonkian area, and they occur

II

INDIAN NOTES

POTTERY DECORATION

21

alike at Owasco lake, Mud Lock, and
Rowlands island (all in Cayuga county.
New York), along the shores of the St
Lawrence in Jefferson county, and at
Fort Erie, Ontario. As an Iroquois type
of design, this is not at all typical — in
fact it is almost unknown. The Algon-
kians also marked much of their pottery
with a fabric-wrapped paddle.

Another typical Algonkian form of dec-
oration, but found more commonly in
western New York and in Ontario than
on the coast, was produced by punching
with a small stick in the plastic clay be-
fore firing, making a round hole on one
side and a small hemispherical boss on
the other.

Algonkian pottery is always decorated
on the rim, the designs sometimes, even
frequently, extending down the outer
side. The interior of the rim is some-
times slightly ornamented, but this em-
bellishment does not extend downward
for more than an inch or two.

Although, in common with the Iro-
quoian peoples, the Algonkians used the

AND MONOGRAPHS

1

22

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

coil process in constructing vessels, they
seem to have preferred to temper the
clay with burnt and pounded shell than
with stone similarly treated.

Fig. 4. — Slightly bent, tubular, clay, Algonkian pipe
from Wysox, Pa.

The Algonkian tribes did not place pot-
tery with their dead, as a rule. In fact,

II

INDIAN NOTES

PIPES

mortuary vessels are reported only from
the historic cemeteries at Minisink and
from Pelham Bay Park, and from two or
three localities on Long Island. In mid-
dens and pits pottery is abundant.

Pipes. — As a pipe-maker the Algon-
kian did not equal the Iroquois. The
typical earthenware pipe of New Jersey
and coastal New York Indians was either
a simple straight tube, expanding a little
at the bowl, or the bowl was bent slightly
upward, perhaps as much as thirty-five
degrees. A straight, tubular pipe of
steatite is in the Museum's collections
from Manhattan Island. In western
New York a more angular type occurs
as well. Fig. 4 shows a slightly bent
tubular pipe in the Museum's collection
from a fire-pit at Wysox, Pennsylvania,
on the Susquehanna. It is decidedly
non-Iroquoian.

In stone the Algonkians used especially
the monitor pipe with flat and thin base.
This type of pipe is not at all like the so-
called ''monitor pipe" of the mounds,
and never bears an effigy. Fig. 5 shows

23

AND MONOGRAPHS

24

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

an example from Wolfe island in the St
Lawrence, now in the collection of the
Museum. Similar pipes come from
Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey,
and Connecticut.

A human face of clay, broken from an
effigy pipe, was found by Mr Harrington

Fig. 5. — Platform pipe from Wolfe ishnd, St Lawrence
river.

at Port Washington, Long Island; and a
clay effigy pipe of Iroquoian type was
found by Messrs Pepper and Heye at
Minisink, New Jersey.^ These three
pipes, and a fragment of what may have
been a bird-effigy pipe from Watchogue,

II

INDIAN NOTES

PIPES — STONEWORK

25

in the collection of the Staten Island Asso-
ciation of Arts and Sciences, stand alone,
and all show Iroquois influence; indeed the
Minisink pipe may be of Iroquois origin.

The pottery pipes of the Algonkians
are all short, rarely exceeding three or four
inches. Their stone pipes are larger, one
platform pipe from Staten Island being
9^/2 inches in length. What Mr Parker
has aptly said about the vast difference
between Iroquoian stone and earthen-
ware pipes is also generally true of those
of the Algonkians. Without knowing the
circumstances of their finding, no one
would ascribe them to the same makers.
A few stone bowl pipes, intended for use
with reed stems, have been reported. In
contradistinction to the pipes of the Iro-
quois, those of the Algonkians, both
whole and broken, are exceedingly rare
on all types of sites.

Stonework. — The grooved axe was the
typical chopping tool of the Algonkians
on the coast and in New Jersey. They
also used the grooved maul, grooved adze,
gouge, and celt.

AND MONOGRAPHS

1

26

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

While the grooved axe does not com-
monly occur on Algonkian sites in west-
ern New York, it is not unknown, al-
though the celt seems to be far more
abundant. The same may be said of
the grooved adze. On the other hand,
the gouge is rather more abundant than
on the coast. The writer found it very
common along Seneca river, north of
Cayuga lake, and obtained specimens in
the midden at Mud Lock, an example of
which is illustrated in pi. iv, a, of the paper
pertaining to that site.

Of the celt, little need be said, except
that it is less angular in cross-section; it
resembles the Iroquoian implement, al-
though the small, celt-like objects so com-
mon on Iroquoian sites (many diminu-
tive examples, perhaps pottery gravers,
have been found at the palisaded Iro-
quois fort at Locke), do not commonly
occur.

Grooved net-sinkers are characteristic.
They occur throughout New Jersey and
coastal New York, and have been gath-
ered along Seneca river, especially at

II

INDIAN NOTES

CHIPPED STONE

27

Mud Lock. Flat, notched, river pebbles,
also used as sinkers, are common to both
cultures.

In projectile points and allied arti-
facts, while the Algonkians knew and
used the triangular arrowpoint, there are
reasons for believing that the coastal Al-
gonkians and those of New Jersey em-
ployed it only in war. It is less common
than the notched forms, and those re-
ported to have been found in and among
human bones on Staten, Manhattan, and
Long islands, are exclusively of this var-
iety, when not of bone or antler. In
contradistinction to the Iroquois, Al-
gonkian triangles are heavier, broader,
and more apt to be cut in at the base,
often having one side or barb longer than
the other.

In central New York, notched and
stemmed points are one criterion of Algon-
kian culture, although Mr Parker found
triangular ones almost exclusively at the
Owasco Lake site. The vast majority of
the points at Mud Lock on Seneca river
and on adjacent sites were notched or

AND MONOGRAPHS

28

NEWYORKALGONKIANS

stemmed. The Algonkians also made a
great variety of chipped forms, including
drills, knives, and large ''spear-points,"
all of which are common on their sites.

It may be said here that, like most
other students of archeology, the writer
has observed the Iroquois distaste, for
stoneworking. This is not true of the
Algonkians, who reveled in stonework of
every variety, but were poor in fashion-
ing bone and antler, in which the Iro-
quois excelled. One may expect to find
that stone articles preponderate over
those of bone and antler on all Algonkian
sites, in both number and quality.

The Algonkian Indians made the beau-
tiful polished stone tubes, banner-stones,
double-holed gorgets (they also used the
singly perforated pendant), and bird-
stones. These objects are known
throughout the regions determined as
pure Algonkian. They are constant fea-
tures, and therefore are found on Algon-
kian sites in the Iroquois country. Bird-
stones, for example, are especially abun-
dant on the Ontario peninsula; they occur

II

INDIAN NOTES

STONEWORK

29

also along Seneca river and in Westches-
ter county, in New Jersey, and in Con-
necticut, as also do stone tubes, banner-
stones, and gorgets.

Granted that occasional polished slates,
etc., are reported from Iroquois sites, it
must still be admitted that, if the col-
lectors are sure of their data, anything
may be expected on late historic Iro-
quois sites, where whole villages were
made up of foreign captives, as at Squakie
Hill, colonized by Muskw^aki, or Fox, an
Algonkian tribe. Even so, such anom-
alies are rare. A grooved axe in the
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, was found in a Neutral
grave on the shores of Lake Medad, On-
tario. It is of a type common in Mich-
igan, the distinctive feature of which is
projections at the grooves on each side,
and we know historically that the Neu-
ters warred on the Algonkians of Michi-
gan, bringing back numerous captives.

The scrapers of the Algonkians were
plain chips with fine secondary working,
or points and butts of arrowheads re-

AND MONOGRAPHS

30

NEWYORKALGONKIANS

chipped and often showing the notched
or stemmed bases of the originals. Ser-
rated scrapers are almost unknown, al-
though common enough among some of
the western Iroquois.

The long stone pestle is Algonkian, and
is found in every part of their range, but
the bell-pestle is absent. The shallow
stone mortar, often hollowed on both
sides, is also Algonkian, but the pitted
hammerstone was shared with other cul-
tures.

Stone heads of life-size depicting human
features, made by some of the coast Al-
gonkians, are found in New Jersey, east-
ern Pennsylvania, and New York, but
apparently were not made by the central
New York people. They may be con-
sidered a peculiarly Lenape, or Delaware,
feature. This is true also of small stone
pendants with the human face carved in
relief or etched upon them. Engraved
stones, sherds, or bones, with figures of
men or animals incised thereon, are char-
acteristic of the New Jersey and Long
Island natives. That they are common

II

INDIAN NOTES

COPPER OBJECTS

31

in central and western New York is
doubtful.

The stone "plummet," while more
abundant in New England, seems to be
rather frequently found throughout the
Algonkian range.

Native Copper. — That all the Algon-
kians had native copper, although very
sparingly, there seems to be no question.
The celt, knife, awl, and bead are all
known, and from every part of their
country. The writer found what ap-
peared to be a bow-guard of no short,
tubular, beads, rolled from thinly ham-
mered native copper, on the left wrist of
a skeleton exhumed at Mud Lock.
These beads differ in no manner from
similar specimens from eastern Long Is-
land. A native copper spear found near
Kipps island in Seneca river, near Mon-
tezuma, is another typical example.
Native copper is not found on prehistoric
Iroquois sites. The Museum possesses a
gorget, beads, celts, and an awl from
Hewlett, Long Island, and an adze from
Croton point on the Hudson.

AND MONOGRAPHS

32

II

NEWYORKALGONKIANS

Bone and Antler. — Bone awls are fairly
common, and generally very poorly
made, often mere pointed bone slivers.
Bone fish-hooks are exceedingly scarce.
A single specimen was obtained by the
writer in a shell-pit on the site of the Si-
wanoy village of Snakapins on Clasons
point, Bronx, New York City,^ and an-
other has been reported by Tooker from
Long Island.^ Bone beads are almost
absent, at least in coastal New York and
in New Jersey, only one typical specimen
being known. Two bone combs have
been reported from sites on the upper
Delaware that had been under Iroquois
influence.

Bone scrapers or reaming tools cut
from the metapodial bone of the deer or
the elk are found everywhere, though
never abundantly. Occasionally a needle
with a central perforation is encountered,
but cylinders of antler, used for chipping
stone points, are common. Fairly numer-
ous also are cups of tortoise-shell, and,
less frequently, rattles of the same mate-
rial have been noted. Specimens of both

INDIAN NOTES

BONE AND ANTLER

33

the latter were found at Mud Lock in
Cayuga, and cups are recorded from
Staten and Long islands, Manhattan
Island, and the Borough of the Bronx,
among other places.

The tips of antler tines were cut off and
hollowed out to make conical arrow-
heads, and others, flat and triangular, or
conical, were made of bone; but these are
objects known also to the Iroquois.

Harpoons are all but unknown in
coastal New York and New Jersey, one,
of a single-barbed, perforated type, being
in our collections from Manhattan Is-
land; but they were found at Mud Lock,
Cayuga, in graves and middens, and Mr
Parker recovered them from the Owasco
Lake site. Algonkian harpoons resem-
ble Iroquoian forms.

With a few minor exceptions this closes
the list of Algonkian bonework, insignif-
icant when compared with the great ar-
ray of Iroquoian bone and antler arti-
facts. The writer alone has found in one
season's digging on the famous Erie site
at Ripley, more specimens of bone and

AND MONOGRAPHS

I. N. M. — II, 3

34

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

antler than he has gathered in ten years'
work in coastal New York and New Jer-
sey together. On the other hand, bone
material is much more abundant on the
Algonkian sites in central and western
New York, possibly because hunting was
better there. Human bone seems never
to have been utilized at all by the Algon-
kians, although it was not infrequently
used by the Iroquois.

Mica. — Plates of mica, often bearing
incised figures, are found throughout Al-
gonkian territory, though nowhere are
they common. There is a fine specimen
from Shinnecock hills, Long Island, in
the New York State Museum at Albany,
bearing a figure of a mythical serpent-
like monster. Others, though plain,
come from Staten Island, and the writer
found one in a grave at Mud Lock,
Cayuga.

Shell. — Although dwelling in a region
where abundant shell was to be had, from
which ornaments could be made, and
bearing a reputation as expert shellwork-
ers, the Algonkians left very few shell

II

INDIAN NOTES

SHELL OBJECTS

35

objects. Casual specimens, as tubes,
beads, gorgets, and cups, have been
reported, especially from Long Island
and Westchester county. The best shell
objects known are figured in the article
on Minisink by Messrs Heye and Pepper.^
At this site were unearthed some splendid
effigy gorgets, principally bird forms. As
before mentioned, Minisink is historic,
and shows great Iroquois influence.

As on the coast, central and western
New York Algonkian sites do not yield
shell objects in quantity, but an incal-
culable number, if we include wampum
beads, have been obtained from old Iro-
quois villages and cemeteries.

This concludes a brief summary of Al-
gonkian criteria in contrast with those
of the Iroquoian tribes intended for the
guidance of the field-worker. In an-
other article, on a prehistoric site at
Mud Lock, Cayuga, New York, ^ may be
found an example of the application of
these criteria to a site hitherto supposed
to be Iroquoian, but which fulfills the

AND MONOGRAPHS

36

NEW YORK ALGONKIANS

conditions given above as constant Al-
gonkian factors.

NOTES

I a. Parker, A. C. The Origin of the Iroquois
as suggested by their Archeology. Amer-
ican Anthropologist, N. s., vol. i8, no. 4,
October-December, 1916, p. 479.

lb. Houghton, F. W. The Characteristics of
Iroquoian \^illage Sites of Western New
York. American Anthropologist, n. s., vol.
18, no. 4, October-December, 1916, p. 508.

2. Wren, Christopher. A Study of North Ap-

palachian Indian Pottery. Plymouth, Pa.,
1914.

3. WiLLOUGHBY, C. C. Pottcry of the New Eng-

land Indians. Putnam Anniversary Vol-
ume, pp. 100, loi, figs. 15, I7» 18, New
York, 1909.

4. Heye, George G., and Pepper, George H.

Exploration of a Munsee Cemetery near
Montague, New Jersey. Contributions from
the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, vol. 11, no. i, 1915.

5. Skinner, Alanson. Exploration of Abor-

iginal Sites at Throgs Neck and Clasons
Point, New York City. Contributions from
the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, vol. v, no. 4, 1919.

II

INDIAN NOTES

NOTES

37

6. Beauchamp, William M. Horn and Bone

Implements of the New York Indians.
Bulletin 30, New York State Museum, fig.
209, p. 307, Albany, 1902.

7. Skinner, Alanson B. An Ancient Algonkian

Fishing Village at Cayuga, New York.
Indian Notes and Monographs, vol. 11, no.
2, New York, 1919.

AND MONOGRAPHS

1

No. 5: Note on the Archeology of Chiriqui.
By George Grant gMacCurdy. Reprinted
from AmerJ AnthropoLf Vol. 15, 1913, No. 4.
50c.

No. 6: Petroglyphs of Saint Vincent, British
West Indies. By Thomas Huckerby. Re-
printed from Amer. AnthropoL^ Vol. 16,
1914. No. 2. 50C.

No. 7: Prehistoric Objects from a Shell-heap
at Erin Bay, Trinidad. By J . Walter Fewkes.
Reprinted from Amer, Anthropol,, Vol. 16,
1914, No. 2. 50c.

No, 8: Relations of Aboriginal Culture and En-
vironment in the Lesser Antilles. By J.
Walter Fewkes. Reprinted from Bull, Amer,
Geogr, SoCf Vol. 46, 1914, No. 9. 50c.

No. 9 : Pottery from Certain Caves in Eastern
Santo Domingo, West Indies. By Theo-
door de Booy. Reprinted from Amer, An-
thropol.j Vol. 17, 1915, No. i. 50c.

Vol. 2

No. I : Exploration of a Munsee Cemetery near
Montague, New Jersey. By George G. Heye
and George H. Pepper. 1915. $1.00.

No. 2 : Engraved Celts from the Antilles. By
J. Walter Fewkes. 1915. 50c.

No. 3 : Certain West Indian Superstitions Per-
taining to Celts. By Theodoor de Booy.
Reprinted from Journ, Amer, Folk-Lore, Vol.
28, No. 107, 1915. 50C.

No. 4: The Nanticoke Community of Dela-
ware. By Frank G. Speck. 1915. $1.00.

No. 5: Notes on the Archeology of Margarita
Island, Venezuela. By Theodoor de Booy.
1916. 50C.

No. 6: Monolithic Axes and Their Distribution
in Ancient America. By Marshall H. Saville.
1916. 50C.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES

3 9088 01142 8356

Vol. 3

Physical Anthropology of the Lenape or Dela-
wares, and of the Eastern Indians in Gen-
eral. By Ales Hrdlicka. {Bur, of Amer,
EthnoL, Bull, 62, 191 6, with added title-page
and cover.) $1.00.

Vol. 4

No. i: The Technique of Porcupine-Quill
Decoration among the North American In-
dians. By William C. Orchard. 1916. $1.00.

No. 2 : ^ Certain Archeological Investigations
in Trinidad, British West Indies. By Theo-
door de Booy. Reprinted from Amer, An-
thropol,^ Vol. 19, 1917, No. 4. 50c.

No. 3 : The Nacoochee Mound in Georgia. By
George G.^Heye, F. W. Hodge, and George
H. Pepper. 1918. $1.50.

Vol. 5

No. I : A Letter of Pedro de Alvarado Relating
to His Expedition to Ecuador [1534]. By
Marshall H. Saville. 191 7. 50c.

No. 2 : The Diegueiio Ceremony of the Death-
Images. By E. H. Davis. 1919. 50c.

No. 3: Certain Mounds in Haywood County,
North Carolina. By George G. Heye. Re-
printed from Holmes Anniversary Volume ,
1916. 1919. 50C.

No. 4: Exploration of Aboriginal Sites at
Throgs Neck and Clasons Point, New York
City. By Alanson Skinner. 1919. $1.00.

Address:

Museum of the American Indian, Heye

Foundation,

Broadway at 155TH St.,

New York City.